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.Good lady say, good men will come in due time, Sheemzher.You must wait for them in the village and after they come, lead them to me.Sheemzher say, how know good men? Good lady say, you'll know him by what he does.Sheemzher wait six years.Six years too long.Sheemzher children grown.Six years make Sheemzher very much wiser.Sheemzher learn read.Sheemzher learn write.Sheemzher learn listen.Parnast little—all talk, Sheemzher listen.Zhentarim know good sir come.Zhentarim know why.Sheemzher listen.Sheemzher alone.Sheemzher not sure.Good sir save child; Sheemzher sure.Sheemzher very much sure, yes?""It couldn't have been planned," Dru muttered, thinking of the chicken coop."All this because of an accident—the right place at the right time, or the wrong place and the wrong time."Sheemzher shook his head solemnly."Not accident.Good lady say, good men will come.Good lady never wrong.""Then your lady shouldn't have mind-locked Galimer!" Druhallen said abruptly."Sheemzher sorry.Sheemzher very much sorry.Gold-hair man good man.Sheemzher wish gold-hair man here.""But not Tiep, right? He sees through magic; he saw through you and your lady.What went on between you two in Weathercote after we killed the reaver? I've heard his side.He thinks you've arranged everything.Exactly how much did you set up?" Calling Sheemzher clever was neither a lie nor an exaggeration.Beneath the garbled language was a mind as devious as any man's.The goblin made his double-fist gesture again."Dekanter no place for that one.Dekanter bad place for that one.Sheemzher think, that one not come Dekanter.That one stay Weathercote.Good lady help that one, teach that one.Sheemzher make mistake.Gold-haired man come between that one, good lady.Sheemzher very sorry.Sheemzher sorry for gold-hair man.Sheemzher sorry for good sir, good woman.Sheemzher sorry for Sheemzher.""If you'd been honest—" Dru stopped himself.Cut was cut and they were days beyond useful hindsight."This scroll we're supposed to bring back to Wyndyfarh, where does it fit in?""Egg top, good sir.""What?""Egg top, good sir." Sheemzher patted his scalp."Gold scroll fit egg top.Gold scroll eat Elva, children.Demons come.Takers."Dru covered his eyes and swore.He couldn't imagine what part of a wound sheet of Netherese gold might have played in the transformation of Sheemzher's family, but he could imagine the egg.Alchemists used such devices to transmute elements and called the devices athanors.The few Druhallen had seen were small, no bigger than a skull, and required the might of more fire spells than he could cast in a week before they'd kindle.A mage would need to harness the sun or the sea tide to power an athanor large enough to transmute a goblin.The sun, the sea tide, or the forbidden magic of Netheril.And he, Druhallen of Sunderath, had to pit himself successfully against such a mage if Galimer were going to walk out of Weathercote Wood.He swore again.Child-sized fingers touched his."Sheemzher help.Sheemzher wait six years.Sheemzher plan.Sheemzher ready."Druhallen successfully resisted the impulse to smash helpful Sheemzher against the cave walls."Leave me alone now," he said stiffly."I haven't had six years.""Sheemzher understand." The goblin made his double-fist gesture as he backed away."Good sir make plan.Sheemzher keep watch, yes?"Not a chance."I'm keeping the watch, Sheemzher.You curl up and get some sleep."The goblin did as told, at least as far as huddling up under a blanket and staying put.Dru opened his folding box.He ran his fingers over the inscribed partitions.So much depended on choosing the right spells to study each night and he hadn't been doing a particularly good job of balancing offense, defense, and maintenance these last few days.Should he assume the worst and commit his mind to fire?His thoughts wandered away from an answer to Galimer and a huge white egg with a gold scroll rising from it.The rain eased, stopped.Looking through the cave's entrance, Dru thought he saw a star.Did that make fire more attractive or less?Dru sat with his box open when Rozt'a cast her blankets aside.She awakened Tiep—with all his worrying about tomorrow's magic, Dru had forgotten to wake the youth—and stared hard at the goblin, whose snoring rhythm held steady under observation, before joining Druhallen near the cave's entrance."I heard you talking to Sheemzher," she began without the edge and irritation that had marked her earlier conversation
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